Poshdeluxe

here’s a shout-out from posh deluxe outta redwood city, california… and props to hampton inn for having ethernet access in all of their rooms!

finally i’m putting this rice laptop to good freaking use! AND i no longer have to charge rice exorbitant amounts of money for checking my email at kinko’s.

so, i’m back in cali, and of course there are so many things here that i completely adore. for example, julie edwards! i stayed at her sweet, comfy home in sacramento on saturday nite and also spent some quality time with her honey, jared fisher. it was so so SO wonderful to see one of my powersuite girls in person and talk and laugh like it was just no big deal for us to be together after a whole year.

now i’m working the admissions circuit… not as fun as walking to the river with julie BUT, at the same time, travel is one of my fave things about this job. when i meet with students, who are stressed about their apps or completely undecided or freaked out about all of their college choices, i relish the moment when we connect, when i feel like i’ve helped them in some way, or decreased their anxiety, or passed on a bit of the magic and coolness and excitement of rice… basically, i just hope to be some sort of highly evolved transmitter between rice and a country full of kids searching for the next fours years of their lives.

i visited 6 (count ‘em, 6) schools today and then drove up to danville, ca for a college fair at the athenian school, located mid-way up a mountain on “scenic diablo blvd”. this is like one of those schools you read about in a book, with an�nature-filled�campus (literally located in a state park) and students of all stripes and interests (one boy from holland, a girl who wants to bring her horse to rice, so many different young personalities bursting out into the world!).

i had a lovely dinner at “the basil leaf cafe” on a charming street full of little local shops and streetlamps. it was my one hour of peace, of non-rice, non-applications, non-SAT’s… i ate my penne pasta and drank strong coffee and read my relevant magazine and felt the warmth of life spread over me, the fact that i’m sitting in this place that i never knew existed until i parked my car and wandered right into it… how amazing it is that my life can stretch across these distances, far from people i love and sharing one moment of life with perfect strangers, our existences brushing against each other like angels’ wings.

and i’m thankful for that.

tomorrow i’m in the menlo atherton/palo alto area, and then i’m off to oakland, berkeley and, of course, the marvelous city of san francisco!

good nite to all from posh d. on the west coast.